The arrests came following an undercover sting meant to retard the area's illegal snake trade. Gregory James Coots, 36, is the pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name in Middlesboro. A Tennessee woman died in 1995 after being bitten by a rattlesnake during a service there. Her husband died three years later from the same thing in Northeastern Alabama.
Coots was charged with buying, selling, and possessing illegal reptiles.
Seriously disturbed Christian Fundamentalists sometimes handle snakes and drink Strychnine as part of their worship, based on a Biblical verse which intimates that those pure of faith have nothing to fear.
Taken from Coots home were 42 copperheads, 11 rattlesnakes, three cottonmouths (water moccasins), and a Western Diamondback (rattlesnake).
© C Harris Lynn, 2008
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